Ellabaja1983

Welcome, and congrats!!!! I was the same way, I didn't really care to "enjoy" my engagement... I mean, we enjoyed it, but we had also been together three years at that point and had incorporated each other into our lives, so it was jut the next step. I don't think you are being too ambitious for April/May of 2012, but it also depends on how many "extras" you want to incorporate into your day. If you think you'll be able to take care of everything you want to do (decorations, OOT bags, etc.), then go for it!!! Are you planning on putting your deposit down when you go in September? I was a little confused on that part. I did book my date at the beginning of July (2010) for this past April, but I had very few dates in April that I could do it. They have me a bunch of dates for May that I could do it, so, if you are flexible, you may still be in good shape! I think 140 is A LOT of people... The way we did it was we invited close family and friends down. We invited about 30 - 35, because we wanted a small intimate DW. When we sent the invitations out, we pretty much knew who was going to go anyway, so we were able to have a general idea. Out of the ones we narrowed it down to invite, we had 21 people join us. We sent out our invitations to the DW at the beginning of July, and required them to RSVP by Nov. 1st, so that would allow us a good amount of time to figure out the logistics and prepare for the correct number of guests. That's going to be a little more difficult for you, because you'll have less time, but you can still do it! As you have probably figured out, don't get discouraged if you don't hear from the wedding department once you've booked... I would suggest, if you are going down there, get all of you questions together that you can think of, and get the answers when you are down there. You'll have them to get all the info from, do it then!!!! Best of luck! I can't wait to hear all of your planning as you go through the process!

I can't believe... today is our 3 month anniversary!! Oh, how time goes by so fast!!!

Wow, you ladies have been busy lately!! I've been so caught up in things going on here and planning for our AHR that is taking place on Saturday, I've spent very little time on here. I'm still going to answer a few questions...just to have a second answer!! We did something very similar to Stephy, where we did a welcomed inner at one of the buffets. We had 21 additional people there and didn't want to have to set a menu either. We had arranged it with Rocio and she was suppose to have us booked in one of the corners of the buffets, but she didn't do that. She just said we'd have a group of 23 people going in, so that caused a few hiccups at first, but I was able to work it out with the "manager" on duty. There was no additional charge for this. We didn't do a rehearsal dinner, that was essentially our welcome dinner because everyone but us got there the day before the wedding. We didn't do any excursions. We really wanted to, and then I decided instead of going ziplining and ATVing, I would rather do the jetski's that were setup right on the beach at the resort. Every time we went, it was either full for the day, or the waves were too high. Actually, now that I think about it, DH did a deep-sea fishing trip with all the guys that went down. They had a lot of fun, after everyone got over their sea-sickness! Welcome!! I think your questions have been answered, but I did wanted to say welcome to the board and congrats!! For me it took almost a week. We did most of what you are doing, minus the mugs and the deck of cards. Our two biggest hits (outside of the bag for people to carry things around in, because they hadn't really thought of that) were the keycard holders with lanyards, and the aloe. I searched and searched and SEARCHED for the aloe because I knew people would forget it. It was a savior for many people. I ended up finding mine on Amazon, because not of the stores around me had it for as cheap as I could find it on there.

I am 12 weeks, as of yesterday! It's been much better the last few weeks that's for sure! I've missed no work (knock on wood) because of morning sickness since the middle of June! We are announcing it Saturday at our AHR, though I keep getting random messages from people on facebook (thankfully not on my wall), congratulating me! Every time I turn to DH and say...HOW many people did you tell??? He's just like, oh... a few! Remind you, this was after he told me to keep it a secret so we could make a big announcement at the AHR! Oh well! I'm excited for the AHR to be over (I know, probably sounds bad) and Sunday to come!!

Maybe I just don't see anything from you, and that's why I was thinking we didn't... Sorry! I obviously went from bride-brain to baby-brain! DH is really excited about getting rid of the wedding stuff too! Though, we're going to have a bunch of random stuff (decorations) to deal with, though maybe I'll just buy some storage totes and put them away, because it's pretty much all tiki stuff, so we could always use them for some other themed party in the future! Before I can do too much baby planning, we have to get our addition built on the house. We are doing a pretty big addition, and until we do that, my youngest stepson is in what will be turned into the nursery! Luckily I still have plenty of time! I'll be 3 months tomorrow!

Mocha... have we become friends on FB yet? I don't think I have you... I think I was trying to get you, but I don't think I did... I know I have Brandy, Lisa and Shelley...but I think that's it... Meggers, he is STARTING on your pictures as of last Wednesday?? Like, he hadn't started on them any other time in the last 3 months???? Our AHR is this coming Saturday and I'm starting to get a little stressed... but it's because I have to work all week with no time off, since I've used a lot of "sick" time in the last couple of months between having morning sickness, and then my grandfather passing away 3 weeks ago. Honestly...as bad as this may be, I just can't wait to get it over with. Probably because I want to start taking care of the messiness so I can move on to doing my scrapbook...and baby stuff!

I did put the location of the ceremony, even though I didn't have it confirmed. I didn't think it would be a problem, because they only do one ceremony at a time at the resort, so you shouldn't have a problem getting the venue, unless it's raining or something... I didn't put anything about the reception because we hadn't made a decision on that until about a month or two before the actual date... The other thing I did to keep our guests up-to-date was a website specifically for the DW, and just did all the updates on the website. Once I updated it, I would send a message out to some of the guests (the ones I knew really cared about the details, and would check it) to let them know things were updated!

We were "penciled in" for awhile... because I wanted to make sure the date/time worked for everything else we were working on. Finally when we confirmed everything and sent in the copies of the CC and DL, it still took over a week for the deposit to come out... maybe even a month now that I think about it. We didn't go anywhere else for our honeymoon. We were very content with staying right there at the resort! Stephy went somewhere else on her honeymoon though, maybe Maui?! She'd be the one to ask!! Ahh, yes, the officiant is your delay. I do remember that now... sorry, I totally forgot about that. He just has to make sure he doesn't have any others (at other resorts) at that time. I hope that is done soon!! Looking back, I don't know if I waited to do up some of my invites and stuff for the confirmation. I think I may have just put time of ceremony is "TBD" so that I could get things sent out!

Both DelSol and Elizabeth Medina do AMAZING work!

Manda, when you got your date confirmed, they didn't confirm the time too?? That seems weird to me... did you put down a preference for the time?

Had I used a photographer from Mexico, I would have gone with Claudia Rodriguez, who is the photographer that Stephy used... We brought our own photographer with us though because we got such a good deal from a local one, and got so many more pictures/time for the money! Check out the reviews on here though, that should be helpful! I know the resort also recommends like 3 or 4 photographers (I asked Rocio for their recommendations).

I'm doing better than I was... Last week was kind of rough, but I worked long hours every day. I had gotten sick a few different times last week, but I figured out that my prenatal vitamins were causing it, so on Sunday I started taking them at night and that has made a HUGE difference! We have told our closest friends and my parents... Last I knew DH hadn't told his boys, but he may have by now... DH is starting to get quotes from contractors because we need to do an addition on the house... so that's exciting too!

Laura, I'm sorry to hear about the stuff your FIL pulled. It's so terrible when people can't put their feelings aside when they don't match those that the party is actually for. I'm glad your friends played your music through dinner at least... Just think, it's over...and you have a weekend away to just relax AND you did make some good money out of it by the sounds of it! I know that doesn't take away what the in-laws did, but... it's over and now they are the ones who have to deal with whatever way you choose to move forward! If you don't talk to them for a few months... maybe that will get YOUR point across.

So Laura, how did it go????

When we met with Erika (one of the WCs), we went over every piece of the wedding to include flowers, cake, decoration, timing for events on the day of, coordinated transportation (which didn't work out as planned), music for pre-ceremony and post-ceremony (we brought an iPod with all of our music), and just anything special we were doing (we did the whiteboard guest book and Erika made sure that was set up somewhere for us. Before going down, I did discuss flowers to make sure I could get what I wanted (the flowers for the guys we had to get shipped in because we wanted certain flowers that were not in season when we were there) and I asked if we could do a two tier cake because there was a certain cake topper I wanted to get but it had to be two tiers in order to be able to use it. Otherwise, we discussed very little up until about a month...maybe two weeks, before the wedding. They had such a large assortment of options, pink, white, purple (like eggplant, which was perfect for us!), blue... they seemed to have every option I could think of. Are you thinking about getting a non-traditional color for the dresses?? I don't like the "non-traditional" word, but I don't want to say like "weird" or "different" and make it sound bad!